LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Viscera), The Second Downtown Street Party Preview, And More!!

Here's a new news post on this Wednesday morning, which includes a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month and a clarification on what's airing on one of our two local rock radio stations, while this post also serves as a bit of a soft launch for the busiest weekend of the year around these parts via a preview of a big outdoor concert tomorrow night. Let's get things rolling!

Sault Michigan hardcore punk trio Viscera will play their next local gig on Saturday, August 22nd at Three One Three On Ashmun! Announced via their Instagram page on Monday as part of this concert calendar (also confirming a new return to Marquette on August 1st), the local date will see Viscera headline at the former Back Door, in what is being branded as from "Soo Tang Records". Is that Viscera's own in-house promotion agency, and is Soo Tang for the children? Viscera made their local debut at Three One Three in March, and for their encore there, they are looking for support bands, so if you're interested in hopping on this bill, message their Facebook page or above for more information! This concert takes place at 7:00 PM, it is presumably 21+, and while admission fees aren't given yet, the March show there (which featured Marquette metal band PonyWorm) cost $10 in advance & $15 at the door.

While we're on the subject, Viscera released their first ever music video to their new YouTube channel on June 6th! Their first studio original song since adding bassist Chris Lovins to their ranks, this is entitled "Chinga La Migra" (Spanish for "Fuck Immigration"), which sets the tone for a politically charged anti-ICE music video, though it's more of a lyric video, as you don't see Bob, Chris, or Mitchell on camera. In your face with strong opinions that will especially resonate with many Yoopers, and it leans into hardcore punk well, though the slower, more melodic choruses kinda stunt the momentum. Give it a watch/listen below, and stay tuned for more from Viscera and their Three One Three show next month soon!

Next up, here's our preview of TOMORROW'S second Downtown Street Party in Sault Ontario for 2026! As these move west along Queen Street East, Street Party #2 takes place on a closed block of Queen from Brock Street to Elgin Street (the former RBC to the courthouse), but as this stretch is adjacent to to the Downtown Plaza, there will be more going on during the festivities. Local vendors will be on site, along with beverage gardens, food for sale, kids activities and games (in a proper Kids Zone, no less), and numerous Queen Street businesses will be open en route. The Downtown Plaza will play host to Nicole Does Trivia at 7:00 PM, followed by a free screening of Jaws 1 at 9:30 PM, and of course, this all happens concurrently with day #1 of Rotaryfest at nearby Clergue Park. Visit You Belong SSM's Facebook page for complete details on the non-musical portions of the second Downtown Street Party!

Like with last month's inaugural party since the City took over booking these from the former Downtown Association, there will be bands on two "stages", one at Brock Street, but the other will be at the turnoff for March Street (near The Queen's Tarts) rather than Elgin. Not as a far of a walk that way! The Brock Street Stage will play host to this event's likely only SMS-amenable act, namely acoustic punk cover duo Dos Amigos, who claimed on their own social media to be playing at 8:15 PM. The apparent headliners there are classic rock trio Flathead Ford (who said that they'd be on at 9:30 PM), and You Belong SSM have curiously not said who the third/opening act will be, referring instead to "more hometown heroes" and "so much more". We'll let you know if anyone is clarified! As for the March Street Stage, local country musician Brendan Hodgson is headlining there at 9:30 PM.

Classic country band The Stumpy Coldwater Trio gave their start time as 7:00 PM, leaving Rusty McCarthy (now alongside his regular partner Maja Bannerman) to likely be playing in the 8:00 PM hour. Remember, this is not an official Rotaryfest event, but as there's no Stage 2 bill tomorrow, the shoe kinda fits, even if this isn't on the same block of Queen as the Second Stage used to be held on! Downtown Street Party #2 is FREE & ALL AGES with a 6:30 PM start time, and 9&10 News is calling for mostly-partly cloudy skies tomorrow with no chance of rain, and temperatures ranging from 17-21°. Should be a fun time for all, with a dash of punk to boot, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Dos Amigos live!

Finally, I wanted to follow up on a brief note from last month where I mentioned that 104.3 The Fox and their sister Rogers Radio rock stations in Kingston and Northern Ontario have stopped airing the Winnipeg-based Sunday Night Vinyl Series, let alone on-air theme weeks. Based on what I have heard listening to 104.3 FM in recent months, as well as listings on the station websites and lack of promotion therein, it looks like Rogers have quietly dropped three more scheduled programs from the air no later than January. These include the Classic Rock Lunch with Lew McDonald (weekdays at noon), This Week In Rock with Adam Kane (Saturdays at 11:00 AM & 6:00 PM), and The Church Of Rock with Cosmo Grant (Sundays at 9:00 AM). All of the above hosts (including Howard Mandshein of the Sunday Night Vinyl Series) remain as on-air talent with Rogers rock stations, and Lew is still our afternoon DJ.

This leaves just the two zoo crew shows (Brock & Dalby and Biggs & Barr), individual DJ blocks, and Classic Rock Sundays as the only regularly scheduled programs on 104.3 The Fox, though if you miss Howard, Adam, and Cosmo, you can still hear them on Seekr via 92.1 CITI in Winnipeg or CHEZ 106.1 in Ottawa. Losing these shows is clearly a Rogers call and not the Soo's fault, and I haven't seen a public statement as to why these shows all ended at around the same time, but variety of the spice of life, and I do hope that Rogers try again with new scheduled programming in the future! That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

Three Days Grace/Finger Eleven Concert Video Showcase (Part 1!!)

Have you been wondering where our coverage of last week's Three Days Grace/Finger Eleven concert at GFL Memorial Gardens has been? So have I, but compared to Triumph & April Wine at the arena last month, videos have been surprisingly harder to come by, and barring belated videos being posted from that night, I'll be lucky to fill two posts. Despite the relative lack of videos, the show was a huge hit with a sold-out audience (I'm told that The Sheepdogs drew well that night at The Machine Shop too!), and Kenneth Armstrong from SooToday got 12 solid photos of the headlining Norwood, Ontario hard rock quintet's set for this article! Nothing of Finger Eleven or Royal Tusk though. We'll highlight uploads from three filmers today, starting with Three Days Grace's set-opener "Dominate", which was one of five songs from their new dual-singer album "Alienation" to be played last week.

This was filmed by YouTube user MsSawfiler (who also filmed one Triumph video last month), and if you need context as to why the video screen has a random kid on it at the start, Three Days Grace literally preceded their set with an old Station Mall commercial! You can see fan-shot video of just that moment on (where else) Station Mall's Facebook page. As for the song itself, this is a well shot video (helped by Ms. Sawfiler being right along the extended stage walkway), so Matt and Adam get nice and close! The audio is a little muffled here, but it's a quality first look at Three Days Grace's first song, so check it out for yourselves below!

The most prolific filmer (so far?) of Three Days Grace was YouTube user MasonTheGoat, who also filmed at last year's Our Lady Peace concert at the Gardens, and he shot seven videos of the headliners last week! Again, nothing of the openers. Mason filmed 3.D.G. playing "Break", "Pain", "Kill Me Fast", "Apologies", "Don't Wanna Go Home Tonight", "Never Too Late" (which was his only vertically shot video), and as embedded below, "World So Cold". If you're curious, of the 17 pre-"Alienation" original songs in that night's setlist (according to Setlist.fm), 11 were from their first four albums with Adam Gontier on vocals, and 6 were from the three albums after Matt Walst replaced him, with the other singer providing backing vocals or follow-up verses as needed. They also played three covers, two in the acoustic portion (more on that in a bit) and a rendition of 3 Doors Down's ballad "Here Without You".

Mason was in the stands for this concert, and while not close to the stage, he zoomed in a bit, and he had a good side-stage vantage point that lets us see the crowd levels well. The stage lighting is really accentuated from where he was too! Audio is somewhat quiet (though not as muffled), but given where he was seated, you can't complaint too much, so give Mason's videos a watch above and below as well!

Today's last videos actually come from 104.3 The Fox's Facebook page, and much like at the Triumph show, a representative of the Sault Ontario rock radio station included short videos from the show in a batch post alongside a handful of photos. Five of their six videos were of Three Days Grace, including clips of them playing "Dominate", "Animal I Have Become", 10 seconds of the crowd chanting the band's name, and "Kill Me Fast", but embedded below is 31 seconds of them playing "Lost In You" during the acoustic break, which is set around a faux campfire on this tour (you may recall seeing a contest from The Fox to win a chance to be on stage for it, hence the onlookers!). During this stretch, they also played "Lifetime" and a medley, the latter of which included a cover of "Porn Star Dancing" by Matt's old band My Darkest Days (it would be interesting to hear how that came across in an unplugged setting!)

Alas, they don't cover Saint Asonia at all in return ("Better Place" is too good of a song to leave untouched, but that's just me). Like with The Fox's Triumph videos, these are all vertical, and were clearly shot from the stands, but they zoom in a lot to capture the action while it lasts, and the campfire motif is well done for a palate cleanser! Give these a watch above & below, and hopefully longer (and horizontal) videos of the campfire songs surface!

Finally, let's take a look at (surprisingly) the only public video that I have found from Finger Eleven's support set, which was also included in 104.3 The Fox's aforementioned batch post. This sees the Burlington alt-hard rock quintet playing "Together Right" from their 2023 greatest hits album, and it's a decent quality performance that accentuates the stage well despite the verticality of the aspect ratio! Scott does seem to be straining his voice a bit, but the energy and enthusiasm are clearly there, so give this video a watch below, and hopefully more turn up!

We do have a little bit more from the Three Days Grace (and Triumph) concerts to come, so stay tuned for all of that and more on the SMS as the month of May rolls along! Thanks everyone!

Triumph/April Wine Concert Video Showcase (Part 3!!)

I am expecting an influx of Three Days Grace concert videos to be hitting YouTube very soon (the first of them have already started going live), so let's keep our busy end-of-month stretch going by covering more of last week's Triumph/April Wine concert! Unless someone uploads new public videos from this past Wednesday of both bands, this will be our last showcase of videos from attendees who filmed both bands, though there are more who only filmed Triumph that we'll talk about hopefully this weekend. The bulk of the public YouTube videos were addressed on the SMS already, but one more YouTube channel has videos of both Canadian hard rock legends, namely Denmark Street Pedal, which has a number of concert videos from literally all over the world, but this is the only local show that they have filmed at over the last two years. Possibly an intentional trip to be at Triumph's reunion tour kickoff? In any event, D.S.P. filmed one video of each band.

Their Triumph video is of them playing "Allied Forces", and it is a shame that Denmark Street Pedal didn't get more videos, as these are the best quality videos that I have seen from the show! A close placement on the floor (looks to be second row), a high quality camera with clear audio, and a nice vantage point of the stage with strong zoom combine well with an up tempo performance from all involved, with Phil and Todd handling vocals well so Gil Moore can focus on drumming. Don't bypass their Triumph video below!

Next up, we'll take a brief detour to Facebook, as a representative of Sault Ontario rock radio station 104.3 The Fox was in attendance, filming three short videos of Triumph's set for this batch post from their Facebook page that also included two April Wine videos and four photos. Their videos include a 19 second clip of "Somebody's Out There" and two short chunks of "Hold On" (the first 51 second video is embedded below, and click here to watch the 0:41 second part). Unfortunately, all three were shot vertically, but the filmer had a good view of the stage from the stands, and the audio was clear, so if only these were horizontal and full songs! Give these a look also!

As in parts 1 & 2 of our Triumph/April Wine concert video posts, we'll look at videos of April Wine from the same filmers for the back half, with the aforementioned Denmark Street Pedal filming them playing their classic single "I Like To Rock". Like with the "Allied Forces" video above, the overall quality here is excellent, and it does show the talent and enthusiasm that the current April Wine have, even if there's no original members left, so definitely check this video out for yourselves below!

Finally, we'll head back to 104.3 The Fox's Facebook page's batch post from last week, as they filmed two abbreviated vertical videos of April Wine's set, including 23 seconds of "Roller" and, as embedded below, 50 seconds of the guitar/drum solos & bridge of "Sign Of The Gypsy Queen". Again, I wish these were longer and horizontal, but what we do hear sounds good and you get a clear look at the stage given where the filmer was seated, so check out The Fox's April Wine videos above & below as well!

Our next post will 100% be devoted to weekend concert previews, and we'll continue our Triumph concert video coverage with an all-Triumph video post at some point by the weekend, so stay tuned for all of that! Thanks everyone!

The Demon King/Sentiment Dissolve Concert Preview, Plus Convergence Updates!!

Today's post heavily circles around a big metal show tomorrow night that we're previewing to lead off with, and one of the opening bands has a lot going on to talk about afterwards. Here's what you should know!

We'll start with a special Tuesday night concert preview, as three touring death metal bands from three different countries will descend upon Soo Blaster TOMORROW NIGHT! The bands in question are Nashville-based death metal quartet Demon King (not Maynard Hayes frontman Damon King), London progressive death metal quartet Sentiment Dissolve (who headlined at Jay's Piston Broke Pub in May 2025), and Norwegian tech death metal quintet Celestial Scourge. Quite a feast of brutality is incoming for local metalheads tomorrow, so if you just miss original touring death metal, give all three bands a listen to see what you think, and hopefully you can swing coming out on a work/school night! Your local support bands tomorrow are death/thrash metal trio Pillory (who opened last year's Sentiment Dissolve show) and progressive metalcore quartet Convergence, both in their first concert of 2026.

Both should get faces melting early, and we'll have more from Convergence in a second! Promoted by Mikhal Muto's Underground Events SSM, tomorrow's show is an all ages affair at 7:00 PM, and tickets cost $15 in advance through the local openers, at Soo Blaster, or online at this link (the door charge jumps to $25). If you can make it for this one, you'll be in for a crushing night of metal, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Demon King live a few months back!

Next up, here's the latest from the aforementioned Convergence, who surprised fans by releasing the second advance single from their upcoming album on "all streaming platforms" this past Wednesday! Of course, "all" platforms is impossible to guarantee, but it's in the usual places and in a few you may not think of first, including Bandcamp. The song in question is "Gemini", which was once planned to be the title track for their third EP dating back to February 2024, but as you know, the band wiped most of their back catalog as an instrumental duo and have been reworking some of their older material for their next album. Of note, you can still hear their 2022 debut EP "One" on Bandcamp, albeit with new cover artwork, but there's no sign of their follow-up "Dead & Dreaming" there, implying that the songs from that EP will at least partially resurface with vocals ("The Ebb" already did, after all).

The Bandcamp postings for both "The Ebb" and "Gemini" glean some more info on both songs, including full lyrics, the inspiration behind both, and confirming that Swedish musician Adam Roxner is mastering the album. While I always found it odd that "Gemini" was going to be the name of their unfinished third EP, Convergence explained that the name was influenced by how it started production when they were still just a studio metal duo (and that "it also just sounds cool"). To promote the song's release, guitarist Brendan Christie was actually interviewed by 104.3 The Fox midday DJ Zenga McCurdy on Friday, and the band helpfully posted the interview to their YouTube channel over the weekend. Neat to see Zenga promoting and talking to an original local rock band! I don't recall Dan or Mitch doing something similar when they were on the former Q104. What all does Brendan talk about and reveal in this 6 minute interview?

Zenga asks about Convergence's sound and influences, what you can expect from tomorrow's Demon King concert, how to buy tickets, how Sault Ste. Marie locals have taken to Convergence since launching, the album plans, and what to expect from their stage show. Of note, Convergence plan to release two more advance singles "in the next couple of months" before the full album comes out, and he did confirm that the album will have more songs that predate Stephen & David's additions to their lineup. Good stuff that helps sell the band well to Fox listeners, and Zenga came off well when asking questions, so give the whole interview a listen above! A guitar playthrough video featuring 33 seconds of the song was also posted to the band's Facebook page, complete with tabs, but I'll embed the full song here via Convergence's official lyric video on YouTube, also featuring some space imagery behind the lyrics.

Pending our eventual review of the album, I'll hold comment on "Gemini" for now, but everything is very well produced and put together so far, so give the lyric video a watch below, and check out much more from Convergence at the above links (and don't miss their first show of the year tomorrow night!)

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes as this week rolls along! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Ripcordz & Soundcheck) Plus More Recent News & Notes!!

On this snowy Tuesday morning, we have a packed news post to check out, featuring some notable LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, a new promotion agency's initial activity, and a returning face on the local FM radio dial, so here's what you should know before you head out the door!

Defunct local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will reunite for concerts at Jay's Piston Broke Pub on Friday, January 30th and Saturday, January 31st! First announced on Sunday via the venue's Facebook page, these will mark the first official Soundcheck bookings since their farewell gig on New Year's Eve 2024 at the YNCU Curling Centre. Personal Facebook postings indicate that this will be a reunion of most of the band's final 2023-2024 lineup, including singer/guitarists Terry Eaton & Cameron Oliver and bassist Jim Michaud along with guest musicians to be revealed (I assume the AI generated band in the poster will not be among them). The band's final drummer Glen Thomas does not appear to be involved in the reunion. Now, you may recall seeing Cameron, Terry, and Jim play together a few times last year under the name "The Band", so why is it only now that they're reviving the Soundcheck name, even if temporarily?

Keep in mind that Terry is the only original band member, so he can theoretically use the name with whoever he wants. Of course, Terry & Jim still play together in Separate Wayz & The Guilty Party, who Cameron has guested with live, and Terry has recently been seen playing with Cameron during his solo country dates, so there's a lot of synergy regardless of name. I'm treating this as a one-off (two-off?) booking unless otherwise stated, but 2025 collaborations under other names aside, fans won't want to miss Soundcheck's official return! These are 9:30 PM and 19+ shows with no cover, as usual for Jay's. Visit the above links for more details!

Next up, I'd normally wait for local promoter announcements to cover this here, but seeing as the venue has eagerly plugged it on social media, I figure getting the word out now can't hurt. Montreal hardcore punk trio The Ripcordz will make their long awaited return to Sault Ontario on Saturday, July 18th when they debut at Beck's Bar! While this legendary punk group last played here in August 2024 at The Distraction, Paul and crew were in town for an encore in July of last year that was shut down by the police due to a fire safety complaint, with the East Street venue remaining closed for new concert bookings since (read more at this link). That show was stopped before The Ripcordz could even begin their set, but at a new west end venue with fire code measures in place, hopefully they tear it up after (technically) almost two years away! I don't currently know if this is being promoted in-house by Beck's or through another agency.

No word yet on local openers, but Hails (who opened both of The Ripcordz' Distraction gigs) and Sylo did the honours last year, while technically active local bands like A Dire Setback, The Gambit (then The Sick Sons), and the former Jack Spades have all opened for The Ripcordz since 2017. Finer details are forthcoming, but last year's Ripcordz show had a $20 admission fee (or "pay what you can") with a 7:00 PM start time, though that was all ages and I assume Beck's Bar will be 19+. Something to get excited for this summer, so stay tuned for updates on The Ripcordz' return to the Soo in six months!

Also today, you may recall that ex-Hails guitarist Mikhal Muto put on the aforementioned Ripcordz concerts at The Distraction, and he has recently formally launched his own concert promotion agency! Mikhal has returned to Facebook on a personal basis and launched the page for Underground Events SSM at the same time, and it is through this name where he's putting on the Demon King concert at Soo Blaster in March. Other upcoming concerts have been plugged on their Facebook page too, The Ripcordz among them. This video implies that "news bombs" are coming soon, including "new venues, new bands, and new bookings", so we'll have to see what all that entails! However, a prior "news bomb" is that Underground Events SSM have released a compilation album for sale on Bandcamp! It leans to folk and acoustic artists, but there are some names involved that you are sure to recognize from prior concerts and coverage.

Mikhal's own folk punk solo project Agnosticism leads off with a song called "Growing Up", and recognizable names like his cousin/ex-Hails bandmate Carmen Muto, his old Vanity First bandmate Andrew Beggs (as "Andrew Keith"), Golden Scoundrels/ex-Shit Liver frontman Josh Penno, Gimiiwan Ikwe, Shae Tull, and Tye Lawless Co. are among the performers. Like with 2022's Clusterfolk compilation tape (featuring The Uncanny Valley), this doesn't cross our punk/metal radar enough to join the monthly album review backlog, but there's a lot of talented artists here, and hopefully you guys buy the album for $9.99 to support their work (or stream its official YouTube copy from Mikhal's channel for free below!)

Finally for today, we have some news from 104.3 The Fox, as Sault Ontario's rock radio station has a new local midday DJ! After five months with Mitch Belanger from 101.9 The Fox in North Bay in the 2:00-6:00 PM timeslot here (following Country 104.3 holdover Dan Koo's departure in August), the station's Facebook page revealed via the video embedded below that Zenga McCurdy was back on the local airwaves, making his on-air debut yesterday. If the name is unfamiliar to you, then you likely don't tune in to Kiss 100.5, as Zenga was an on-air personality on The Fox's sister pop/top 40 station from 2018-2021. Originally from Kitchener, Zenga debuted on CHAS in the fall of 2018 alongside Taylor Lucas (and later Casey MacDonald) to replace the former morning drive show hosted by Scott Turnbull and Lou-Anne Young, moving solo to midday after Rogers added the Toronto-based Roz & Mocha Show to more Kiss stations' morning timeslots in November 2020.

Zenga left Kiss 100.5 in the summer of 2021, after which he worked at 101.5 Indie FM in Orangeville and 96.3 Cruz FM in Saskatoon, and the latter is a rock station, so he does have experience DJing this format. I don't listen to Kiss 100.5, so I was totally unfamiliar with Zenga before yesterday, but he did good from what I heard on-air on day #1, and he was already referencing local weather and ticket giveaways for the Triumph concert, so it's good to have a truly local DJ on The Fox again! Watch his return video below, and listen for him today from 2:00-6:00!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tarnished), The Unfortunate Sun Concert Preview, And More Recent Updates!!

Here's a new news post to check out on this wet Tuesday night, which is half devoted to Sault Ontario and half to Sault Michigan. We'll start south of the border as our Yooper readers gear up for Thanksgiving, so here's a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and a related mid-week preview, before we finish things up north!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Tarnished will rock The Merchants Bar TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band only announced this gig on their Facebook page earlier today, and as usual, The Merch don't advertise bands playing there on their own Facebook page. For Canadian reference, the Wednesday night booking is because Thursday is the American Thanksgiving, so most people will have the day off, and thusly can stay out late and go to the bar without impairing work or school (hence why some call tomorrow "Drinksgiving"). Tarnished have taken most of the past month off, so if you've missed Alex, Josh, Chris, and Ron's brand of hard rocking covers on a local stage, consider a mid-week jaunt to The Merch for their Thanksgiving pregame action TOMORROW! This is a 21+ event at 9:00 PM with no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Tarnished live last year!

Next up, hard rock fans in the E.U.P. have one more opportunity to partake in a "Drinksgiving" concert TOMORROW NIGHT, but in this case, it had advance notice, as local hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun will set up shop tomorrow at The Islander Bar in Hessel! This is a reprise of their Thanksgiving Eve concert last year (also the last time that the Fake Chow successors played at The Islander Bar), with the venue calling it a Drinksgiving Party again, but the band are calling this year's event a "pre-stuffed party". Of course, you can get stuffed early if you want, but we know how Thanksgiving tends to go! Unfortunate Sun's lively and fan-friendly mix of hard rocking covers should draw another solid audience, so come rock out before you settle in for the parade, the Lions game, turkey, and more on Thursday! All of the action begins at 8:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no cover. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Unfortunate Sun live! 

Also, I have sadly moved Sault Ontario/Toronto punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke to our inactive band links. Guitarist/ukelelist Mikey Hawdon hasn't posted any updates relating to him and his uke since posting the finale of his 30th anniversary series of covers of Green Day's "Dookie" (the album's closing songs "F.O.D." & "All By Myself") one year ago today, though commitments to his family and local bands BookcluB & Dos Amigos shouldn't be overlooked. Originally launched during the spring 2020 pandemic lockdown as a series of loose solo ukelele "quarantunes" for social media, Mikey's covers quickly caught steam and eventually attracted guest musicians of an increasing scale, and these soon took on their final form as remotely filmed full band covers, with Mikey starting each on ukelele before dropping the pretense and rocking out on guitar. Mikey moved back to Sault Ste. Marie in June 2022, and based the project locally from that point.

There were no inklings last fall that the "Dookie" series was Mikey & His Uke's grand farewell, but if it was, he sure went out with a bang! Truly transcending his home base, the YouTube channel has over 42,000 subscribers, with 10 songs getting 200,000+ views, including the cover of The Ramones' "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg" exceeding 930,000. These were always fun covers with cool names to recognize and discover from afar, so definitely check out Mikey & His Uke's litany of all-star covers above, and hopefully he picks up his uke again in the future!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or station name:

 

• In a programming note for 104.3 The Fox, 2:00-6:00 PM weekday & 12-6:00 PM Saturday DJ Dan Koo has not been on air since (at the earliest) August 15th, with Rogers Radio regional content director and 101.9 The Fox (North Bay) DJ Mitch Belanger replacing him ever since. Assuming that Dan has left The Fox/Rogers, a reason for his departure was not announced (unless it was only on air), but hopefully this isn't a sign of consolidating operations from afar, as Dan was the only fully local on-air personality dating back to final years of Country 104.3. Note that Dan is still credited in his timeslot in the schedule on The Fox's website, albeit without a picture.
• If you follow the Up & Down Lounge on Facebook, you may have seen this vertical video from the 24 Second Line West bar & golf simulator lounge on Sunday, which features a very brief clip of classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 playing there. We didn't miss a concert of theirs (the Up & Down Lounge rarely hosts public concerts), as this was definitely a private holiday party, and the video seems mostly intended to promote that you can book private events there. Silent 9's clip is muted out in favour of a seasonal Drake/Wham mashup anyway. It looks like a lot of fun was had!
• Convergence frontman Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio finished in second place in last month's sixth annual The Soo's Got Talent! We didn't cover this year's due to it being all-karaoke (let alone that there was no house band for the finalists like the last few years), but congratulations to Stephen, who has a really strong voice that goes beyond his recent metal work! This year's winner was David Ikechukwu (a.k.a. Bobbie Lex), making him just the second male champion of T.S.G.T., while perennial finalist Demoy MacSamuels finished in third place, and Shae Levi (the only female finalist this year) finished in fourth. Congratulations to all six finalists!

 

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

Generations' Canada Day Concert Preview, A New Album Release, And Much More!!

Happy Canada Day to our readers and followers in Sault Ontario and area! Today's all-Canadian post gives us a seasonal concert preview, a new album release, a new lyric video, and what's been on the FM dial recently (and later today), so here's what you should know!

We'll start with a special Tuesday concert preview, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will headline TONIGHT'S Canada Day festivities at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion! Last seen at Beck's two weeks ago, this will be a large spotlight for Valerie, the Tonys, and Pierre to unleash some fan-friendly rock covers, hopefully with a big chunk of Canadian content for obvious reasons! While their set will take place at around 8:00 PM under the big tent before the fireworks, a stacked roster of entertainment is planned for all ages today, albeit without timeslots on the event poster. Co-headlining are classic rock cover trio The Sidekicks, while you'll also be seeing Toronto magician Magic Mel, local folk musician Matthew James, and the Concert Band Algoma (no relation), plus Ryan Mauro singing "O Canada". Expect lots of family friendly entertainment, vendors, and refreshments throughout the day as well.

Today's Canada Day program begins at 2:00 PM and it is absolutely free to come down to the Pavilion for all of the fun! While the tent is acknowledged, 9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy skies today with weather in the 18-20° range, and no chance of rain, which should be comfortable enough. Visit the above links for more details on the Canada Day program in Sault Ontario, and for a preview, here's Generations live!

Next up, here's a surprise new album release, as local crossover thrash quartet Hails put out a self-titled album on major streaming services on Saturday! This came as a surprise to me, as while I knew that Ha!ls had wrote new original material and performed it live, I don't believe they ever publically acknowledged on social media that they had been recording studio material beyond their Trigger Happy cover for "Punk Canada Vol. 4", but the cover artwork (designed by frontman Brenton Ellis as usual) was posted to their Facebook page in May without context. The album is their first with second guitarist Carmen Muto, and features thirteen songs, at least three of which either share names with or are re-recordings of songs from Brent's solo project Slumshine ("Pink Clouds Of Density", "Reversible Straitjacket", and "BiPolaris"). With all of that said, where can you stream or buy "Hails"?

The album is now streamable on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Boomplay, and Qobuz, though unlike their 2023 debut EP "Rock And Rolls", it is not currently on Bandcamp. If you want to buy "Ha!ls", it is on iTunes for $9.99, so it is thusly eligible for a review on the SMS, but given our current backlog, I currently have it pencilled in for October, as Mike Haggith, The Realignment Project, and Hails guitarist Mikhal Muto's solo project Agnosticism all have new albums that beat this to market. (Spades GT's "United" is now slated for November). I'll hold comment on Ha!ls' new album for now, but check it out at the above links, stay tuned for our review this fall, and here's the opening track, "The Lost Cosmonaut"!

Also today, let's look at recent programming notes from 104.3 The Fox, so what has the former Q104 been up to on air as of late? In terms of on-air programming notes, last month saw a bit of variance on Sunday, June 15th, when The Fox and their sister stations didn't air a Metallica album to cap off that week's Sunday Night Vinyl Series (it was Metallica Week). Instead, they had a special about Metallica's 1995 album "Load" to honour the 30th anniversary of its release. While the album was played in full, it was supplemented with features and interview clips from Metallica members, so that would have been neat for fans, especially of their mid-late 1990s output! Learn more about that special at this link. This week on 104.3, it's The Tragically Hip Week, which I believe is just the second time since the format change locally that the theme week has been based on a domestic band (CJQM switched to rock during Rush Week).

For Canada Day today, there is special themed programming for the holiday. Afternoon DJ Lew MacDonald is on air at 8:00 AM & 2:00 PM for The Hip Road Trip, where he will visit locations in Canada that were referenced in The Hip's songs, while their 2005 live album "That Night In Toronto" will be played at 8:00 AM. In between, the fan voted Great Canadian Countdown (as plugged on air by DJs and in commercial breaks) airs at 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM, so if you're curious what Rogers Radio listeners liked the most for domestic rock music, you know when to tune in! Sounds like a fun day of Canadian rock programming on The Fox, so tune in to check everything out, and click here for more info on today's programming schedule there!

Finally for this all-Canadian post at the SMS, here's something that I didn't know about when I briefly mentioned the Spotify availability of local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's new single "Brand New Day", as he uploaded a lyric video for the song onto his YouTube channel two weeks ago! The lead single from his new album "Frequent Flier" (and one of just three songs from the album that you can hear for free without buying it or obtaining the subscriber mailing list passwords), you can now check out the song on YouTube, complete with a lyric track along the bottom of the screen, if not having the best contrast for visibility. I won't comment on the song yet, as I'm reviewing "Frequent Flier" next month, but the song is a motivational number about preparing for a new adventure and a new day. Give it a listen below, and buy "Frequent Flier" above!

 

 

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

Sentiment Dissolve Concert Preview, New Live Videos, And 104.3 The Fox Updates!!

I hope everyone's long weekend is continuing on a good trajectory (and if you're in the E.U.P., hopefully your Memorial Day long weekend goes well next week!) Today's post features new live concert videos, local radio station updates, and leading off, one more long weekend concert preview, so here's what you should know on this Sunday afternoon!

Here's a special Victoria Day concert preview, and if you're into death metal, you'll wanna head to Jay's Piston Broke Pub TOMORROW NIGHT for this one, as London progressive death metal quartet Sentiment Dissolve and Brantford tech/deathcore quartet A Tyrant's Lament will make their local debuts here! Both relatively newer bands as far as Southern Ontario extreme metal goes, Sentiment Dissolve's technical and proficient brutality will be complimented nicely by A Tyrant's Lament's rawer but still skilled aggression, so don't miss out on both bands tomorrow at the former Roosevelt Hotel! Local death/thrash metal trio Pillory and heavy metal trio The BAG (both last seen at The Pit at Soo Blaster) will open tomorrow, with this being an appetizer of sorts before The BAG open for Switzerland's Virvum & Stortregn at Jay's in July. Talented local metal with hard hitting originals will be an ideal kickoff tomorrow!

This stop on the Dissolving Tyrant Entities tour has a 19+ age limit, 8:00 PM start time, and an advance ticket fee of $10 at this link (the price jumps to $15 at the door). While taking place on a statutory holiday, this will be a work/school night for many, but it will be awesome to see some legit extreme/death metal from afar on a local stage, and hopefully there's a decent turnout so that we can have more "Rosie metal nights" anew! Visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Sentiment Dissolve live!

Next up, here's a surprise find from when I was looking up potential uploads from The Dayglo Abortions' show at Soo Blaster earlier this month, as I did find videos of them there... albeit from 2023! These come from attendee Rick Sutherland, who only uploaded them to his YouTube channel in March of last year, hence why I never even found them until now. As of this writing, the videos have three views combined, so let's rectify that! Rick filmed the Victoria, B.C. hardcore punk legends for eight minutes of their 2023 local set across three videos, which see them playing their original songs "Sacks Of Meat" and "Proud To Be A Canadian", but the longest of the three is embedded below. Not the highest framerate going here, but Rick had a good view of the stage and the front rows of fans rocking out two years ago, and they still packed in lots of intense fury and attitude into their set, so give The Dayglos' new-ish 2023 videos a watch!

Also today, here's our first look at a heavier local music act rocking Beck's Bar (the former Vibe Lounge) on Goulais Avenue, and this is specifically of local hard rock quartet Half Past there on April 26th for their opening weekend! The 6 minutes-long video features the guys covering most of Tool's "The Pot", which will be old hat for guitarist Alain Fletcher given his old(?) Tool tribute band Parabol. Jordan's voice does get strained at points on this cover, but it's solid throughout, and it gives us a look at the effective staging and lighting at Beck's for bands! If only they hosted live bands more than once a week. Give this new Half Past video a watch below!

Let's wrap things up with programming updates from Sault Ontario rock radio station 104.3 The Fox, which I haven't noted on here in over a month, so what deviations from the norm have they offered on air since? On the Easter long weekend, The Fox and their sister rock stations in Rogers Radio's Ontario loop held a Classic Rock Long Weekend playing just 1950s-1980s songs for three consecutive days in their music rotation. In other words, if you love the Classic Rock Sundays there, you got a triple dose for Easter! Personally, I wanna hear newer stuff too, but I know I don't speak for all rock radio listeners in the market. In lieu of the Sunday Night Vinyl Series that night at 8:00 PM, CJQM morning DJ Heather Williams hosted a Power Up special on AC/DC (in advance of their Canadian tour this year) featuring archival interviews with Angus Young & Brian Johnson. That would have neat for AC/DC fans!

Another programming stunt is ongoing for the Victoria Day/May 2-4 break, namely the Time Machine Long Weekend, where a different year in rock music history is beinfg relived in half hour blocks for three straight days (as in, you'll hear just songs from 1974 for a half hour, then maybe 1996, then maybe 2021, etc.) Fun idea, so look for that on the former Q104 through tomorrow night! As best as I can tell, there was no artist/genre theme week this past week, and I haven't seen any reference to a Sunday Night Vinyl Series episode tonight. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Selias Concert Videos & 104.3 The Fox Updates!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to apologize for a missed concert in our St. Patrick's Day weekend previews, as local classic/hard rock cover duo Dodge This played last night at the Up & Down Lounge at 24 Second Line West. Murphy's Law strikes again, as the hard rock concert with the most blatant holiday themes and frills is the one that the band only announced on their Facebook page four hours before showtime, let alone at a venue that's never crossed our radar before. Apologies again for missing this one, I'd have covered it on here with even a day's notice, but hopefully Dodge This had a solid turnout at the bar/indoor golf lounge!

Today's post otherwise covers some on-air details from one of our local rock radio stations, but leading off, here's videos from Friday night's Selias concert at Soo Blaster! Two videos of the headlining Toronto melodic death metal band's set have publically surfaced on Facebook this weekend, and while both are short, you get a nice little sample of their local encore from them. The longer of the two clips comes from 705Live Sound Co.'s Facebook page, with Mike Blair again filming the video from the soundboard. I know he likes to do the "camera zooms out from the soundboard and comes back" thing for their videos, but here, it put too much emphasis on the crowd level on the floor. I couldn't place the song upon checking out this clip (maybe it's new?), but it features a more melodic chorus with clean vocals. What we see and hear sounds good, so see some of what you may have missed from Selias' set on Friday night below!

Next up, the other local Selias video (so far?) actually comes from Selias' own Facebook page, with a band representative filming 18 seconds worth of their set on Friday. The band representative was on the floor, so the video is much closer to the stage and better highlights the audience, but the audio quality isn't quite as crisp as on 705Live's video. Still a solid little teaser, so check it out below, and we'll let you know if other videos from Friday night turn up!

Finally for today, let's discuss some recent programming notes for new Sault Ontario rock radio station 104.3 The Fox! I forgot to mention this at the time, but back on February 13th, they aired a "great albums" program to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the release of The Black Crowes' "Shake Your Money Maker", with Howard Manshein of the Sunday Night Vinyl Series playing it front to back. This concept is not a regular program that airs at a given time, and didn't get a lot of commercials prior, but keep it in mind if you're listening to CJQM! Also last month, regular local DJ Dan Koo was off air for a week (I never heard if it was due to illness or vacation), and with him being absent, Mitch Belanger from 101.9 The Fox in North Bay was on air for the 2:00-6:00 PM weekday timeslot. On that Saturday from 12:00-6:00 PM, Nick Liard from Q92 in Sudbury filled in for Dan instead.

Now you have an idea how The Fox will deal with talent absences! As for their theme weeks, they've continued unabated since launch, but two of them in recent weeks weren't for a specific band. February 10th-16th was Cover Songs Week, with the Sunday Night Vinyl Series episode on the 16th seeing Howard play David Bowie's covers album "Pin Ups" in full, while March 3rd-9th was Women In Rock Week, ending with Heart's "Dreamboat Annie" playing on the Sunday Night Vinyl Series. Nice to see Rogers change things up every so often for the theme weeks and what gets played on air for them, but I am still surprised that they don't do Canadian acts all that often. The Q104 switch to The Fox in January happened during Rush Week and they haven't spotlighted a domestic band since. Lastly, all Rogers-owned radio stations got new website overhauls last month, The Fox included, so they all have the same design & layout heavily inspired by the Seekr application.

Honestly, I'm not a fan of the new website, as it focuses way more on Seekr than any of Rogers' individual FM stations, and you can't see a full programming schedule or on-air playlist anymore (ironically, the Seekr application still lists that day's schedule). Good thing the old layout was still in effect when I was first covering The Fox, as I had links and more sources to go off of! Hopefully they improve and add to the websites in due cpurse, but if you want to hear exclusive Seekr content, you'll know more about it now! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site as the week continues! Thanks everyone!

Details On The Fox 104.3's Saturday-Sunday On-Air Schedule!!

Today on the SMS, we're outlining the weekend schedule on The Fox 104.3 FM, which is quite different than what listeners to CJQM will be accustomed to from Monday-Friday! Remember, there is no "Shows" tab on the station's website yet, but the schedule is more or less verbatim to what you'll hear on Q92 in Sudbury and their sister stations in North Bay, Timmins, and Kingston. After spending much of Saturday mornings on autoplay music rotation, the first scheduled program of the day is This Year In Rock, which airs from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM with a re-airing from 6:00-7:00 PM. Hosted by Adam Kane of 92.1 CITI in Winnipeg, he looks at ten notable rock songs from a given calendar year, while he also outlines historical events and milestones from the year in question, often with a Canadian slant. The local premiere episode from January 11th was on 1976, while this Saturday's episode focused on 1978.

This show is roughly comparable in purpose to the syndicated Time Warp with Bill St. James on Sault Michigan's Rock 101, though Time Warp is four hours long and has more of a sonic collage of audio clips beyond just songs (also, the two shows do not conflict, as Time Warp runs on Saturdays from 6:00-10:00 AM). I like hearing more modern tunes than what This Year In Rock has focused on so far, but classic rock fans should be into it, and Adam's trivia and facts add some spice! From 12:00-6:00 PM on Saturdays, you'll hear Dan Koo (the Country 104.3 holdover in the 2:00-6:00 PM weekday timeslot) back in the booth, and after the This Year In Rock replay at 6:00 PM, the last scheduled program on Saturdays from 7:00-9:00 PM is The Biggs & Barr Show with Pastey Jamie, the Ottawa-based zoo crew show heard on The Fox weeknights from 6:00-8:00. Less unique programming, but there's lots to enjoy for rock fans!

For the record, Biggs & Barr were followed on Saturday the 11th by the syndicated Greg Beharrell Show from 9:00 PM-2:00 AM, but Greg's show has not visibly resurfaced on the former Q104 since that night. If you liked what you heard on the first three nights after the format change, or are curious as to how Greg is on air, click here to find his current affiliates!

Lastly for the regular schedule on The Fox 104.3 is the biggest diversion of all, as Sundays there are Classic Rock Sundays! From 6:00 AM until midnight, CJQM and their sister rock stations devote 18 consecutive hours to music almost entirely from the 1960s-1980s, which will please classic rock fans and former The Bear listeners to no end! In terms of scheduled programming, Sunday's first show (from 9:00 AM-12:00 PM) is the Church Of Rock, which is hosted by Cosmo Grant out of CHEZ 106 in Ottawa. This program is loosely themed around being an actual Sunday church service, with Cosmo's "sermons" being trivia and context on certain songs. Informative program with a good range of classics, and I even heard a couple of 1950s songs on air during the Church of Rock! Note that the show's first hour does run opposite the last hour of The Chop Shop with Steve Black on Rock 101, in case you're planning what to hear.

From 12:00-8:00 PM on Classic Rock Sundays, DJs are in the booth, with the first being "Big" Kris Bawden (a.k.a. BK) until 4:00 PM. BK isn't otherwise an on-air personality on The Fox or Q92, but he is also out of CHEZ in Ottawa. The Fox's weekday afternoon DJ Lew MacDonald takes over from 4:00-8:00, and he is definitely well tuned to classic rock, as he also hosts the Classic Rock Lunch from 12:00-1:00 PM on weekdays. The last scheduled program of the weekend is the Sunday Night Vinyl Series, which airs at 8:00 PM and seems to have a somewhat variable end time. Each week, host Howard Manshein (also out of CITI in Winnipeg) plays a notable rock album in full, from front to back, while adding trivia and context before and afterwards, as well as at the midpoint when the vinyl would be flipped over from side A to side B (nice touch!) For the local premiere episode, the album played was Rush's "Moving Pictures".

Last night's album was Van Halen's 1978 self-titled debut, and if you noticed that both albums were by the band who was spotlighted with their very own "week" of coverage and extra songs played on air, you're not alone! I don't know whether the Sunday Night Vinyl Series selection is made prior to or as a result of what band gets the weekly focus, but keep that in mind going forward! It does go head to head with the second hour of the modern hard rock-focused hardDrive with Lou Brutus on Rock 101, so make note of that as well. Beyond the possibility of the Sunday Night Vinyl Series album being post-1989, I did catch at least one instance of a 1990s song being played during Classic Rock Sunday (Colin James' 1990 hit "Just Came Back" was definitely played one week ago), so the 1960s-1980s focus isn't 100% ironclad. Personally speaking, I honestly prefer The Fox's general rotation to Classic Rock Sundays, but there are still lots of good tunes then!

Myself, I do want to hear modern stuff along with older songs, but 18 hours of classic rock will have a lot of appeal for many listeners, especially with the Canadian content factor. If you want songs from the 1990s or this millennium though, you'll have to tune in before 6:00 AM Sundays, or wait until Monday. Barring future programming changes or hosts/DJs coming & going, this concludes our look at The Fox 104.3's on-air schedule, so hopefully this helps give a better look at what you're hearing on Sault Ontario's new rock station, and whether you're all-in on The Fox or if you like bopping between it and Rock 101 or any other stations as songs/shows dictate, enjoy this new variety on the local dial! Thanks everyone!